Washington Injury Attorney Blog

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is one of the major causes of accidental death and disability in the United States. Causes of TBI can include falls, motor vehicle accidents, sports injuries and violence.

Because brain injuries are so devastating, there is a great effort in creating technologies to prevent and protect from these injuries. Seat belts, motorcycle and bicycle helmets are an example of technologies that have reduced the incidence of severe injury.

Causes of TBI

• Falls account to more than 35% of TBI injuries. Falls account for half of the injuries in children under the age of 14 and are the leading cause of brain injuries in older adults.
  
• Motor vehicle accidents - 17% of all TBIs are caused by motor vehicle accidents and this is the leading cause of TBI-related deaths.
  
• Struck by/against events -- Getting hit in the head or colliding with a fixed object accounts for 16.5% of all TBI injuries.
  
• Assault and domestic violence/child abuse -- 10% of TBIs in the general population are caused by assault. War-related injuries are not included in this figure.
  
• Bicycle accidents - account for 3% of accidental brain injuries..

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We have more than 30 years experience in representing brain injury victims and their families. Brain injury litigation is complex and requires attorneys who are experienced in the medical and legal issues involved. With our help, you may recover compensation for your injuries.

See our Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Resources

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating 3 million Jeep Grand Cherokees manufactured between 1993-2004 after The Center for Auto Safety alleged that the plastic gas tanks in the vehicles were installed too far back and too low making the vehicle unsafe in the event of an auto accident.

The Center for Auto Safety petition says that the design of the gas tank is "so bad that Chrysler frequently settles lawsuits without extensive discovery and subject to confidentiality agreements."

A search of the NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reports System (FARS) found that between 1992 and 2008 there were 172 fatal fire accidents and 254 fatalities involving the vehicle. The petition said, "There have been at least 44 crashes with 64 fatalities where the Most Harmful Event is fire." The document compared the Jeep with the now-infamous Ford Pinto.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed. We also represent people who have been seriously injured due to defective and dangerous products. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Click here to read the Center for Auto Safety Petition on Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The Los Angeles Times reports that at least eight people were killed and dozens were injured at an off-road truck race on a dry lake bed in Lucerne Valley, California.

According to a report, a driver in the race lost control of his off-roader and it went airborne, landing on spectators.

Six spectators were killed at the accident scene and two died at hospitals a short time later.

The race was described as 200-miles long and the drivers race around a 50-mile loop at speeds up to 60 mph.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We are personal injury law firm that represents people who have been seriously injured due to the negligent or wrongful act of another and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Recovering from a brain injury or illness is never a straight line and there are often setbacks along the way. Brain injuries or illness are often catastrophic events to the sufferers.

Brain injuries can be caused by illness or disease including infection, hemorrhages, tumors and strokes. Brain trauma due to car accidents, bicycle accidents, falls, sports injury or a hit in the head can also cause a severe injury which require a lengthy recovery.

Often times it takes a long time to diagnose a brain injury and physicians and therapists often find it difficult to predict the outcome. Brain injury victims often plateau during their recovery and often experience setbacks. Man victims never fully recover from their injury or illness.

Brain injury victims often suffer profoundly after the acute phase of the injury or illness. Many brain injury victims suffer from depression, cognitive problems, loss of confidence, overwhelming fatigue and exhaustion. Often people who have suffered a traumatic brain injury face discrimination and are unable to return to their line of work in the same capacity.

Lingering effects of a traumatic brain injury can include loss of oral fluency, vertigo, loss of balance and coordination.

People who suffer a brain injury can experience a change in personality and their loved ones can experience caregivers fatigue and burnout. Many brain injury patients may appear healthy when looking at them but can suffer many subtle effects.

If you or a loved one has experienced a brain injury due to an accident caused by the negligence of another, you should hire an experienced personal injury attorney who has a long history of working with traumatic brain injury patients and their families. At The Farber law Group we work tirelessly to help you receive the compensation you deserve for medical costs, rehabilitation, loss of wages and for pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A man, who was standing on the running board of a large dump truck that was hauling trees and brush, was killed this morning on a logging road near Sedro Woolley when the truck rolled over and pinned him.

The unidentified man was himself a truck driver and he was riding on the running board to see how the truck driver negotiated turns with the trailer.

The accident is being investigated.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in on-the-job accidents and the family of those that were killed. When a worker is injured or killed in a construction or industrial accident, a personal injury attorney with experience with worker's compensation and wrongful death claims may help you obtain the compensation your deserve.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Source:
Seattle's KING5.com
Man dies in Sedro Woolley dump truck rollover accident
Posted on June 22, 2010

Seven people were injured this morning in a bus accident when a truck t-boned a King County Metro bus in in Seattle.

According to a report in the SeattlePI.com, a truck was backing out of a driveway near 4th Avenue South and S. Stacy Street around 11:30am when it hit the bus.

The injured reported back and neck pain after the bus accident and were transported to the hospital.

This information is provided by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have suffered serious injuries, including whiplash injury, in motor vehicle accidents. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages including medical costs, lost wages and for pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A Skagit County motor vehicle accident seriously injured two men in Skagit County around 6:52pm on Friday night.

According to a report in the Sky Valley Chronicle, Derek I. Rheinhardt, 18, of La Conner, was headed eastbound on Young Road when he ran a stop sign and hit the 1995 Dodge Ram driven by Richard L. Houghton, 57, of Anacortes.

Houghton was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and Rheinhardt was taken to Valley General Hospital.

Rheinhardt may be charged with Vehicular Assault because the Washington State Patrol believes alcohol or drugs were a factor in the accident; They are currently investigating. Washington state vehicle code RCW 46.61.522, states that Vehicular Assault can be charged if a person is seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident and the driver was intoxicated.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those who have been killed. We aggressively fight for compensation for the victims of drunk drivers.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Washington State Patrol (WSP) is looking for a 1980's or 1990's green or teal pickup truck with wood panels that they believe was involved in a "lost load" accident which almost injured a Bellevue couple and caused damage to their Mercedes Benz.

According to a WSP media release, the Bellevue couple was driving southbound on Interstate 405 at NE 85th street in Kirkland around 3:45pm when a truck traveling northbound lost and unsecured pick-ax from its truck bed. The pick-ax went through the windshield of the couple's Mercedes and grazed the driver's should before it lodged between the two front seats. The couple narrowly missed injury.

RCW 46.61.655 is the vehicle statute which covers unsecured loads. It is also known as "Maria's Law." The statute provides that a driver is guilty of criminal negligence if he/she fails to secure all or part of a load. If a lost load causes bodily injury, the driver could spend up to a year in jail and face a fine of $5,000.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety estimates that 25,000 accidents and 100 deaths are caused by lost loads every year. In Washington State, the WSP estimates there are approximately 400 accidents a year caused by unsecured loads.

Drivers often do not understand how the laws of physics come into play when they load items into their pickup trucks. Then mistakenly believe that heavy objects will stay put. However, heavy objects can go flying and the results can be disastrous as drivers swerve to avoid the object or the object goes through a windshield causing facial and head injuries and can severely injure, blind or kill the driver and passenger.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents caused by the negligence of another.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Farber Law Group represents people who have been seriously injured in car accidents, motorcycle accidents and truck accidents. Many of our clients have received injuries so severe that they have spent time in the hospital, suffered a disability, had to have physical therapy or required chiropractic, massage therapy or other types of specialized care over a prolonged period of time.

There is not always a correlation between the severity of the motor vehicle accident and the types of injuries people sustain. Sometimes a car is totaled yet the driver and passenger walk away with little or no injury and other times, what appears to be a minor accident, leaves the victim with serious injuries.

Some of the typical injuries our clients have sustained include:

• Traumatic brain injuries - including concussion, post-concussion syndrome, and severe brain injuries which affect neurological functioning
  
• Injuries to the face or head including bruises, fractures, dental injuries, and lacerations
  
• Whiplash injuries to neck including sprains, strains, fractures, hyperflexion/hyperextension injury or cervical strain/sprain
  
• Arm and shoulder injuries including rotator cuff, fractures, sprains and dislocation
  
• Back injuries including lumbar spine injury, thoracic spine injury, disc injury, sprain, strain and fractures
  
• Internal injuries including those to organs such as the spleen, liver and kidneys
  
• Injuries to the extremities including leg, knees and feet including injuries to ligaments, fractures lacerations, bruises, strains and amputations.
  

If you or a loved one has been injured in serious car accident in the Seattle-Bellevue-Tacoma metropolitan area, the injured person may be treated at a trauma center such as Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

If your injuries are serious, you should consult with a personal injury attorney before you sign anything from an insurance company to insure that your rights are protected and that you are fully compensated for your injuries if the accident was not your fault.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed. If you are in the hospital and cannot come to us, then we will come to you.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Eleven orchard workers are lucky to be alive after they bailed from a pickup truck that had lost its brakes on a steep road seconds before it crashed in Douglas County. All eleven of the men riding in the truck suffered injuries, ranging from minor to serious, in the truck accident. One man received a serious head injury and he was airlifted to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. Eight victims were taken to the Okanogan Douglas Hospital in Brewster and three were taken to Mid-Valley Hospital in Omak.

The men were all employees of Crane & Crane Orchards and they were riding in a 1982 Ford pickup truck belonging to Crane & Crane. Three men were riding in the cab and eight in the rear when the brakes failed. The accident occurred along a gravel road around 12:30pm near the company's orchards in Brewster. Brewster is located about 75 miles northeast of Wenatchee.

The workers reported hearing a loud popping noise and jumped from the truck seconds before it went down a steep grade and rolled over onto its roof reports The Wenatchee World.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and construction accidents and the family of those killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Every year, more than one million Americans are seen by doctors and at emergency rooms after suffering a head injury. Of those people, 50,000 to 100,000 will have suffered a brain injury which will linger and will affect their every day lives including work and school. The majority of traumatic brain injuries are caused by motor vehicle accidents. Even if an accident victim does not hit their head on a the windshield, steering wheel or another fixed object, a brain injury can occur.

Sometimes diagnosing a brain injury is more difficult than one might think. Common tests used to examine the brain include CT scans (which use X-rays) and MRIs (which use magnetic fields). While both of these tools are fantastic in seeing blood and tumors in the brain, they are not good at seeing tears in the brain which can be microscopic. Studies show that in 85% to 90% of patients with brain injuries, there is no evidence of the injury on a CT scan or MRI.

Some predictors of a brain injury after a trauma can include the following:

• PERL - a test to determine if a person with a brain injury has pupils that are equal and reactive to light.
• Loss of Consciousness - this means that the accident victim lost conscious awareness and the person may be unable to react to stimuli. Loss of consciousness can range from being momentarily dazed or "out of it" to being in a coma. The Glasgow Coma Scale is a neurological scale which allows a physician to asses the level of consciousness after a brain injury. In the Glasgow scale, there are 15 points on which a patient can be rated on based upon eye response, verbal response and best motor response. The lower the number in the scale, the more severe the injury.
• Amnesia - loss of memory for events leading up to the traumatic injury. Generally, people with longer periods of amnesia have more severe injuries.
• Concussion - the most common type of traumatic brain injury. Symptoms can include dizziness, nausea, vomiting, headache, forgetfulness, irritability, anxiety, depression, mood swings and insomnia. Most people who suffer a concussion recover after a few months but up to 20% of patients can suffer symptoms for much longer periods. Diagnosis can include the Glasgow Coma Scale, testing pupil reactions and size and observing symptoms. Sometimes concussions can produce an abnormal EEG or PET scan.
• Encephalopathy - is a term that is often used to describe a brain injury. Symptoms of encephalopathy include confusion, memory loss, inattention, aggression, agitation and stupor.
• Focal neurologic signs - are signs which indicate to the physician that there may be an impairment in the brain or nervous system. Frontal lobe signs can include unsteadiness in walking, rigidity (hypertonia) of limbs, paralysis of limbs, head or eye movement, difficulty in expressing oneself (aphasia), seizures, changes in personality and loss of smell. Parietal lobe signs can include loss of tactile sensation, inability to pay attention, loss of ability to read or write, loss of ability to find a place and loss of ability to identify something by its touch. Temporal lobe signs include deafness, tinnitus, amnesia or memory loss, hallucinations and loss of ability to understand language. Occipital lobe signs include loss of vision, inability to recognize objects, faces or colors, visual hallucinations. Cerebellar signs include loss of balance and coordination. Spinal cord signs include paralysis and loss of sensation.
• Seizure - thrashing movements and loss of awareness caused by electrical discharges in the brains.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We are a personal injury law firm that specializes in representing people who have suffered a traumatic brain injury due to motor vehicle accidents, constructions accidents and falls. We work hard to insure that brain accident victims receive the compensation they deserve to provide for medical and rehabilitation costs, loss of wages and for pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

In an accident similar to an accident occurred on Interstate 5 in Everett on Monday morning, a motorist was killed when he hit a semi-truck parked on the shoulder of southbound Highway 167 in Auburn on Tuesday morning reports The Seattle Times.

Kin D. Beliakoff, 29, of Bremerton, was identified as a the driver who was killed. No one else was in his car at the time of the accident . The truck driver was not injured.

In Monday's accident, a male passenger was killed with the driver rear ended a flatbed truck parked on the shoulder. Alcohol was considered a factor in this accident.

Both accidents are similar in that they occurred in the early morning hours and involved the rear-end crash into a truck parked on the highway shoulder. Driver fatigue and alcohol may have been factors in at least one of the accidents but shoulder accidents are all too common and often have devastating results.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, approximately 2,000 people die every year in highway shoulder accidents. Highway shoulder accidents are some of the worst crashes on our highways. When a moving car hits a parked vehicle on a highway, the results are usually tragic. The Motor Carrier Safety Administration recommends to truck drivers that they should exit the highway if at all possible, even if it costs a tire or a rim.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Richard Hess, 63 of Chelan, was killed in a single-vehicle accident when his pickup truck rolled on Interstate 90 near the Cle Elum exit reports the Yakima Herald.com.

According to the report, Hess drove his truck off of the road and when he over-corrected, he crossed into the eastbound lanes where his truck rolled off the highway.

According to the Washington State Patrol, Hess did not have his seat belt properly fastened. Investigators are trying to determine if alcohol or drugs were involved.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Two people were injured when the truck they were riding in rolled on Interstate 82 near Prosser. Prosser is near the tri-cities area in south-east Washington.

According to a report in the TriCityHerald.com, Eric Anderson, 64 of White Swan, was taken to Prosser Memorial Hospital where he was listed in stable condition. His passenger, Anna Anderson, age 62, was treated for her injuries and was released.

The Washington State Patrol believes driver inattention may have been a factor in the truck accident. Driver inattention or distraction can occur when a driver engages in a secondary task while driving. Driver inattention can include: checking mirrors or speedometers, looking at passengers, mind wandering, poor concentration, carelessness, using cellular phones, operating minor controls including lights and stereo, eating or drinking and mind wandering.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the families of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Seattle Times reports that a 46-year-old truck driver from Auburn was critically injured when the tanker truck he was driving ran into an Highway 167 overpass. The unidentified man was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment.

According to the report, SR 167 was closed for several hours after the 5:45pm trucking accident because it was feared that the truck was carrying a flammable liquid.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages including medical costs.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Seattle Times reports that two firefighters from Ridgefield, Washington were killed and another passenger -- a 14-year-old boy -- was critically injured in a single-vehicle accident in Montana when the truck they were driving went off a bridge near Butte. Killed in the accident were Douglas Ray Jacobsen, 49, and his front seat passenger, Richard Daniel Streissguth, 45.

According to the report, Jacobsen was driving a Ford F-350 truck and pulling a trailer when he hit a guardrail and the trailer jackknifed and pushed the truck off a bridge. The truck landed upside down. The men were in Montana to pick up an antique fire engine.

The Montana State Patrol believes the weather and icy roads were a factor in the truck accident. Trooper Tammy Perkins said that speed may also have been a contributing factor.

There has been a spate of car accidents in Seattle over the weekend as a a cold front with freezing temperatures has moved into Western Washington. The best advice we can give motorists is to slow down.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in car accidents and the family of those who have been killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Ford Motor Corporation has announced that it will be the first car maker to build seat belt airbags into the rear seats of their Ford Explorer. The safety devices will be available in the Explorers next year.

Seat belt airbags are integrated into the shoulder portion of rear seat seat belts. The airbags deploy outward and side wise and provide safety for those riding in rear seats and limit movement of the neck and protect the head. The airbags are designed so that they deploy more slowly and with less force than front airbags so they are safe for young children and elderly passengers.

According to Wired magazine, Ford did extensive testing on the airbags and wanted to make sure that -- even in extreme conditions -- a child would not be injured by the airbags if he or she was sleeping and had their head slumped.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of

The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in car accidents and the family of those killed. With our help, you may receive compensation for your injuries, including pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Olympian reports that Andy Zapolski, a 13-year-old boy from Idaho has died from injuries he sustained last week in a go-cart accident. John E. Kautz, age 39, has been charged with felony vehicular manslaughter in the boy's death.

The go-cart accident occurred on October 23rd when the two were driving go-carts on a city street. Kautz, who was intoxicated at the time of the accident, rear-ended the go-cart driven by Andy Zapolski. Zapolski suffered severe head trauma and died three days later at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Kautz is charged with vehicular manslaughter which is equivalent to vehicular homicide in Washington state. It can be charged if a person is killed and a person was operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs. In this case, the motor vehicle was a go-cart but the same charges apply if the person was operating a motorcycle, boat, auto or truck.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Last week, a Northwest Airlines commercial flight overview its destination by 150 miles. Fortunately, this was not a terrorist incident, the pilots were not asleep nor fighting. However, they were very distracted -- they were using a laptop computer -- and did not notice that it was time to land the plane.

According to The Seattle Times, the pilots Richard Cole of Salem, Oregon and Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Washington will lose their pilot's licenses because of the incident .

Recently in Washington DC, the National Transportation Safety Board held a summit on distracted driving which addressed the dangers of text-messaging and using other electronic devices while driving. The summit revealed data that said almost 6,000 people were killed and about 500,000 injured in motor vehicle accidents linked to driver distraction.

Data tells us that distracted driving kills. Hopefully, we will not have any more pilots so distracted that they don't realize where they are or that people are talking to them over radios.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed. If you believe your auto accident was caused by someone using a cell phone, you might want to read our article, "What if my accident was caused by someone using a cell phone?"

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The National Transportation Safety Board has made recommendations to the Federal Aviation Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard and other governmental agencies regarding operator fatigue and a sleep disorder called sleep apnea. The NTSB presented "Fatigue and Sleep Disorders in Transportation Accidents" at the Washington D.C. Sleep Society and their data reveals that fatigue and sleep apnea has been a factor in thousands of transportation accidents since 1967 including railroad, marine, intermodal, highway, and aviation.

The NTSB recommends that pilots and other operators or motor vehicles be evaluated for obstructive sleep apnea if they have other risk factors for that disorder.

Sleep apnea is a disorder in which a person has pauses in their breathing during a sleep cycle. Each episode is termed apnea, and it means "failure to breath." When people have the condition, their breathing is obstructed during the night which affects their body, causing daytime sleepiness and fatigue.

THE NTSB gave examples of when sleep apnea was a factor in a bus accident, a train accident, a cruise ship accident and a case when two pilots fell asleep during a flight.

See the Seattle Times for a full report by the Associated Press on the condition.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.